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Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Well, Austin finally completed his writing assignment from me. Here, reprinted with his permission, is his essay on lying for your reading enjoyment.

Lying is Bad

Lying is just plain stupid. I don’t know why I lie, because I always just end up getting in bigger trouble than if I had told the truth. When you lie a lot, nobody will believe you, but if you tell the truth everyone will believe you. When you lie, your life will turn upside-down. You will always get in trouble and you might not have any friends. Lying is the worst thing you can do to yourself, most of the time. You won’t do well in school if you are holding a lie inside you. It is like the feeling of jealousy; the kind of feeling that is inside you and it hurts whenever you think about it. Can you imagine feeling like that until you told the truth? I cannot live like this anymore. From now on I will tell the truth and only the truth because The Truth Will Set You Free. Then I won’t have anything to worry about.

I am always getting in trouble when I lie. That is why I hereby decree that I will now tell the truth. When it comes to lying, no one will believe you because it takes honesty and trust for a friendship to grow. Like a plant needs sun and water to grow and strive. That’s probably why I have no friends. Just kidding with that last one - I have plenty, but more importantly some people don’t have friends because they do lie.

Like why I’m writing this paper, if you lie you are not going to do well in school. When you say you “don’t have homework” when you really do, you are less likely do your homework shown in recent studies by scientists around the globe. But it doesn’t take a genius to find that out. Do your homework, don’t lie. I know what you're thinking, “but there are so many better things to do” or “but it’s too hard” or even “don’t want to”. Who cares, just get it done and you're fine.

I am through with feeling terrible after intentionally lying. It’s one thing if you lie to save someone’s life while being hung over a pit of lava, but come on, who will ever see that coming. If I do ever continue to lie, which I won’t, I might find myself being hung over a pit of lava. Facing the truth is not bad at all, it’s even more forgiving than lying and it builds respect, trust, and your power of the force. You will find yourself feeling a lot better “a good kind of feeling that helps you get stuff done”.

Bottom line, or paragraph, is that lying is bad and the truth is good so, tell the truth and you could be that one person that tells the truth. This paper has been brought to you by the letter T and the number 6.

Yes, he's a goofball, but he did his assignment. Think it'll sink in? I hope so. But I guess I can always "hang him over a pit of lava" if he lies again.

That's an awesome essay, Dawn! Hopefully he will stick with his promise to only tell the truth. Keep us informed!

I used your "essay" punishment on my daughter yesterday. She handed me her two pages this evening. Somehow she managed to work a new reward system into her essay whereby if she does what she's supposed to do for a month she gets taken out for ice cream. I told her I'd have to get back to her on that one. LOL!

Talent sure runs in the family! What a great essay and so well written. He had me at the first paragraph! Whoever that reader was that said she thought the punishment was tought has to get a grip! You stick to your guns and know that you're doing a great job! Lying is my absolute worst crime as well.

My boys are still a little young for this kind of a consequence, but I'm totally planning on it later on! Right now they do "writing consequences" where I write a little lecture on the appropriate topic and they copy or trace the sentences (depending on the kid). I figured later on we'd graduate to essays, and this example is perfect ammo!

Hey, Dawn...been reading your blog for many months. This comment is for Austin.

Austin, I am a mom. My sons are 23 and 22 years old. Your essay was awesome, totally. I am very proud of you. You will do great things in your life, I just know it. Thanks for letting your mom post your essay. Now, start your own blog! :-)

Wow, what a great lesson and a great essay. My Mother used to say "I will always trust you until you prove to me that you can't be trusted." or something like that. It hung over my head - the always part - like a ... like a pool of lava maybe, and always made me think twice.

I read your blog every day. I am the oldest of a family of five and my kids are in their late 20's. You do a great job.

Great job, Austin! I know your mom is very proud of you!! Thank you for letting her post your essay. You guys are helping more people than you even realize!!

Great job to you, too, Dawn! What an awesome idea to have Austin write an essay. I swear, my daughter would look at me like I had two heads if I had her write one! I think I'll stick with Austin's lava pit idea!! Wouldn't it be good for your skin -- all that steam and heat?? hahahaha

This comment has been brought to you by the letter M and the number 4. ;)

Well done, Mom and Son! We are all capable of so much more than we give ourselves credit, until someone presses us to our potential. At least he's thinking about truth and consequences now. How many of us walk out our capabilities and oaths? He may just surprise your socks off, Dawn. Keep up the good parenting!

Good job Austin. I had to learn those lessons the hard way myself. But I'm happy to see that you've followed through with your punishment, and that you're willing to put in the work to get it done. I'm proud of you, kidlet. :)

I recently came across a similar essay I had to write for my mom when I was about 12. It was about being mean to my sister, or rather, why I shouldn't.

Austin's is far cleverer than mine was.

Great "punishment" - maybe he thinks you are so mean now but you did him a big ole favor here. Either he learned not to lie, or he learned to be more conscientious about his homework, or at the very least he learned how to invent an essay from a basic prompt which'll do wonders in a few years for his college essays.

What a well written essay! I feel the same way about lying. I can tolerate the kids acting up or being mouthy at times but not lying. I absolutely despise lying and won't tolerate it. Luckily I don't have much trouble with lying yet but I'm sure the day will come. You're an inspiration to many of us moms Dawn!

Well, all the reasons he gave for why it's not a good idea to lie are the exact reasons I had for deciding to just be truthful. He left one out though: When you lie, you have to remember what story you told, because if you get it wrong on retelling, you get in deeper than you were before. Tell the truth because it's easier to remember and you always get it right. ;)

I loved reading Austin's essay!! He got right to the point and wrote a well written 5 paragraph essay..hehe. I do hope he learned his lesson because I'm sure the lava is way hotter than he would want to feel!Great way for you to "punish" him too!! He learned if you lie, all you get is more homework too.

That is so adorable! When he gets to college make sure and send that to him his freshman year, about halfway through his first term, when a lot of bright students forget to keep doing what got them to college in the first place - working hard and being honest with themselves about it.

Awesome...be sure you save that! Will come in handy some day when his kids lie to him! LOL! We had similar situation with our youngest daughter and we made her write a paper too..using scripture references on topics like lying, trust, respect etc. She was much harder on herself than we would have EVER been! She still remembers it 6 yrs later!

I don't think I should get this much enjoyment from someone being punished. Part of me wants to forward this to people in my family who can't stop lying to everyone about everything, even tiny pointless things.

Austin has an incredible gift for writing. I was really cracking up (at my desk, while I was pretending to work, which I guess is a form of a lie...great now I need an essay). Thanks so much for sharing!

Hi DawnI have been following your blog for over a year now and thought that maybe you can help me get this information out so that we can help this family. I am going to include the letter that I sent to all of my contacts and hope that your faithful readers will help out anyway that they can. If everyone can give a little something that would be great! I have posted the link to his website at the bottom of the letter. Thank You Jenifer (the letter follows)

Hi Everyone, I am just sitting here thinking about one of our close friends Chuck Campbell his wife Vicki and 4 kids (3 still at home). They are in desperate need of everyone's help. He was diagnosed with COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) about 3 years ago and has gotten progressively worse. He has seen many specialist, had many scans, and the final results are not good. Chuck has been sent to a team of specialist at Temple University and the end result is that he needs a DOUBLE lung transplant. This is very, very expensive as you may imagine and insurance only covers a very small amount. The transplant team will not even touch him until he has raised about $500,000. This is where everyone comes in. They are in need of donations and any and everything will help. I am posting the link at the bottom of the page to his Temple fundraising web site and all donations are tax deductible and are greatly appreciated. Please help us save our good friend so that he can see his 4 kids grow up. If you have any questions please call Vicki Campbell at 302-424-2189 she will be happy to answer any questions that you may have. Sincerely Jenifer Coverdale http://www.transplantfund.org/restricted/patient-detail.cfm?pat_id=2727

OK, as a mom to 2 toddlers currently being potty trained, I am ROFL at the "letter T and the number 6". Of course, in our house, everything is currently "brought to you by the letter P and the number 2!!!"

i am a bit late in catching up but my 17 yr old and I LOVED austins paper... shes been in deep doodie for lying for a while now and she is now afraid of the pit of lava LOL.... the boy has a great sense of humor :DGrins Laura and Martha.Ask her some time about yard therapies... picking up sticks and rocks and clearing an acre and half of leaves.... yes yard therapies impress ... at least for a little while LOL.